Hidden Scars

Chapter 58

Chapter 58...
"How old were you in this photograph?"
Hiccup and Astrid were sat in the attic surrounded by boxes of old videos and photographs. They were sat next to eachother, showing eachother what they had found. Hiccup was holding a photo up to Astrid.
"I think I was about 4 years old..." She took the photo and held it between her fingers. " That was my first time learning to ride my bike without stabilizers. Let's just say... I fell many times that day and rode into a lot of bushes."
They both giggled as she put the picture to the side and moved onto the next photo.
"Oh my god! Hiccup it's you!"
"Wait what?"
"Look!" Astrid pointed to a little boy about 6 years old. "Awww you were so small!"
"I cannot recall that day at all... except I think I fell into dog shit..."
"Oh Hiccup... you didn't just fall into dog shit... you fell face first into it..."
Astrid giggled slightly and flipped to the second photo behind it to see everyone on a group photo. Astrid, her parents, Hiccup, Valka and Stoick and Gobber all together in the forest. All of them were smiling.
"... this was one of the last times that everyone was together. Didn't we go camping in the forest and ended up almost lost?" She asked.
"Yeah... Yeah it was... that was a great day... oh my god! Do you remember Gobber ate that mushroom and then wondered off and came back with a donkey calling it his pet yak?" Hiccup said.
"Yes!" Astrid burst out laughing with Hiccup aswell as they both ended up falling into their backs in a fit of laughter. Hiccup looked at Astrid who was still laughing, making him smile seeing her happy and finally seeing her face glowing again.
After a few minutes they had completely calmed down, still laying on he attic floor.
"Hey what's this one? Aw it's me and you!" Hiccup sat up and handed the photograph to her. It was a photo of Astrid and Hiccup hugging and smiling at the camera when they were around 9. Astrid had her arms wound his neck squashed up against him with him holding on tight around her waist.
"Hmmm... remind me of us now..." Hiccup said as he traced his arms around her waist and hugged her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder.
"Yes... but we weren't together then..." she smirked at him.
"Or were we?" He looked at her slyly as he pulled her back and began to kiss her all over. Astrid started giggling as Hiccup kept kissing her face. She kept trying to get out of his grasp and telling him to stop but she couldn't get free. When she around her chance, Astrid grabbed his face to make him look directly into her eyes and pulled his face down so their lips met.
"I love you..."
"I love you too..."
"Thank you for this Hiccup... I don't know what I'd do without you..."
"You know you'll always have me... always."
She smiled and hugged him tight.
"So... what do we do know?"
"Well... I'm not leaving you here on your own, you go and sort out Stormfly and I will grab some clothes and overnight stuff for you to stay with me for a while."
"Okay" Astrid kissed him again and stood up, walking down the stairs to find her girl.
Hiccup followed and went into her room, carefully making sure he didn't step on anything in the mess. But something caught his eye before he started packing.
He walked over to the other end of the room and bent down to see what was shimmering in the light.
Astrid's broken necklace.
He picked up all the pieces gently and flipped the locket to see the photo inside a shattered frame on a broken chain. It made his heart break knowing that Astrid's most important memory had been broken.
Then he had an idea.
He found a small napkin and wrapped all the pieces up, putting them safe in his pocket and continued packing.
Yes she had photos as memories but this one... this one memory was not going to be broken.